Beekeeping

[EddieWalker]

Random thought. Do you have to wear your protective gear while driving the bees from place to place? If so, what are the reactions to people that see you on the road?

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

Random thought. Do you have to wear your protective gear while driving the bees from place to place? If so, what are the reactions to people that see you on the road?

No, I do not wear the suit while driving, the wife will however. I've driven 200 miles with a double deep Lang in the back of the van held together with tape.

Checked the bee rescue bees today. They are completely organized and bringing in tons of pollen. I love this work.

 

[NorTracNY]

Random thought. Do you have to wear your protective gear while driving the bees from place to place? If so, what are the reactions to people that see you on the road?

Good question. I still remember driving my first nuc home. The bees for some reason seem to stay in the back along the window. The bees are always put in the vehicles with the engine running.

 

[LittleBittyBigJohn]

I put mine in the truck bed. They seem fine with it. Now I have a bed cover so there should be no issue at all.

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

We are pretty careful to make sure we have no stragglers hanging onto the box before we place them in the car. I pulled into the shop to unload gear the other day, and we did have a few loose bees buzzing about in the car. They are usually pretty chill. The bees from this cutout were very relaxed during the lengthy process.

We got another swarm call yesterday, but the bees moved on from the tree pretty quickly. Only a handful remained, staying where the queens scent lingered on the branch.

 

[BackRoad]

Does heating honey cause it's health benefits to be compromised?

While growing up, we drank a switchel made from about a half tablespoon each of local honey and natural vinegar, cut with 8 ozs of hot water (in the winter) or 12 ozs of cold water with ice in the summer.

Just wondering if drinking it hot negates it's health benefits.

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

Does heating honey cause it's health benefits to be compromised?

While growing up, we drank a switchel made from about a half tablespoon each of local honey and natural vinegar, cut with 8 ozs of hot water (in the winter) or 12 ozs of cold water with ice in the summer.

Just wondering if drinking it hot negates it's health benefits.

Yes, even heating to 104F begins the breakdown of beneficial enzymes. Most large honey producers heat their honey to speed up filtering and bottling. When I say large, I mean even the "local honey" operators.

 

[Torvy]

Does that mean my baked honey buns aren't healthy? Dang it!

 

[BackRoad]

Thanks for that.

Now my wife wants to know why I believe you, and not her when she first mentioned it!

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

Thanks for that.

Now my wife wants to know why I believe you, and not her when she first mentioned it!

Aww man, big mistake

 

[Torvy]

Thanks for that.

Now my wife wants to know why I believe you, and not her when she first mentioned it!

Rookie mistake. Never let them know you checked their facts.

 

[lsgreg]

I set up a couple of double queen hives over the last few days.

I have never done this before, but the concept is that the combined colonies will act like one huge colony, boosting honey production above that which the two separate colonies would produce.

So far, based on the activity outside the boxes, it looks promising.

 

[BackRoad]

Welcome to TBN Mr. Lsgreg.

Interesting concept...one Queen, lots of drones...

In what part of this great country are you located?

...TJ

 

[lsgreg]

Welcome to TBN Mr. Lsgreg.

Interesting concept...one Queen, lots of drones...

In what part of this great country are you located?

...TJ

Actually two queens, hopefully not too many drones (males), but lots of workers (females), who do all the foraging.

Thanks for the welcome, @BackRoad.

I live in Eastern Washington State.

 

[BackRoad]

There we go, we've gone into territory that will get us in trouble talking about all the work the females do!!

How does what is effectively one hive (though double sized) operate with two active Queens?

Doesn't that create conflict and potential for swarming?

 

[lsgreg]

The bottom boxes are not connected or open to each other in any way. So, in the left stack there is a queen, and in the right stack there is a queen. The queens are 100% separated from each other. They cannot kill each other.

On top, in the middle, there is a queen excluder, so she cannot exit or cross over that way. On top of that are the honey supers.

As to why the workers don't fight, I don't know, but they don't.

Swarming is always possible, but the hive is huge, with lots of space, so I hope there will not be swarming pressure.

About the 2 queen hive, apparently that happens in nature sometimes, and maybe in our hives more than we know. I once saw 3 queens in a normal hive, and they did not swarm. Eventually only one queen remained.

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

Got another bee cutout call. This time an apartment complex in another county. They got our name from some folks we sell honey to. They have a colony inside a wall and their maintenance guys won't go near it... So, looks like another colony to re-home. The old bee vac is earning it's keep this season.

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

Just as I finished typing that, I got another cutout call from the DNR list I'm on. Definitely honey bees going into what looks like this guy's soffit. Moved in a few days ago. So, two cutout consults this weekend.

 

[ponytug]

Wow, you are both busy and lucky!

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

I was in St Louis on the flight deck getting ready to push when the guy called. Almost took a delay because I couldn't get him off the phone. Quite the talker . He sent photos of the invasion while I was enroute to NYC.